Mozart: The Wonder Child

Stanley, Diane

ISBN 10: 0060726768 ISBN 13: 9780060726768

Publisher: HarperColl, 2009

Synopsis

Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgang Gottlieb Mozart was only three years old—not much bigger than his name—on the day his life changed forever.

So begins this vivid biography about one of the most legendary prodigies in history. Award-winning author and illustrator Diane Stanley engagingly tells the story of a brilliant boy who grew up to be a complex and often troubled young man—a man who composed some of the most beautiful music of all time.

With stunning and expressive illustrations, she portrays Mozart's turbulent life as a marionette show, inspired by the famous Salzburg Marionette Theatre, using an innovative artistic approach to present the life of a renowned musical genius. In concise and lyrical prose, Stanley presents an honest and sympathetic portrait of the boyhood and tragically short adulthood of a composer whose music has lived on for more than two hundred years.

About this title

About the Author:

Diane Stanley is the author and illustrator of beloved books for young readers, including The Silver Bowl, which was named a best book of the year by Kirkus Reviews and Book Links Lasting Connections and was an ALA Booklist Editors' Choice; The Cup and the Crown; The Princess of Cortova; Saving Sky, winner of the Arab American National Museum's Arab American Book Award and a Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year; Bella at Midnight, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year and an ALA Booklist Editors' Choice; The Mysterious Case of the Allbright Academy; The Mysterious Matter of I. M. Fine; and A Time Apart. She is also well known as the author and illustrator of award-winning picture book biographies.

Ms. Stanley has also written and illustrated numerous picture books, including three creatively reimagined fairy tales: The Giant and the Beanstalk, Goldie and the Three Bears, and Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 2–5—Stanley brings meticulous research and creative visual treatments to her biographies; this 18th-century prodigy offers fertile grist for her mill. In extensive back matter, the author explains that she chose to portray the characters as marionettes after a trip to the Salzburg Marionette Theatre, a group that frequently performs simplified versions of Mozart's operas. The visible white strings may take some explanation for a young audience, but the staged effects, from the opening curtain to the suspended cherubs carrying footnotes (parenthetical comments or definitions), are well suited to the story of a man who spent most of his life performing or composing. Stanley divides Mozart's life into three acts. The first begins with his interest in lessons at age three and follows him on a European tour with his musical father and sister. In the second act, the arrogant young man, no longer a wunderkind, is dismissed by his employer and estranged from his father. During the finale, viewers meet Mozart's wife and children, learn a humorous anecdote regarding The Magic Flute, and discover the composer's tragic and untimely demise. The quoted material is carefully contextualized; one has the sense that the comments are taken from actual letters, although this is not documented. Transcriptions of melodic lines from famous works appear throughout. Stanley's golden palette is achieved with egg tempera on wooden panels. Natural accompaniments include Kyra Teis's The Magic Flute (Star Bright, 2008) and Peter Sís's whimsical Play, Mozart, Play! (HarperCollins, 2006).—Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library
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About this edition

• Publisher: HarperColl
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0060726768
• ISBN 13: 9780060726768
• Binding: Library Binding
• Number of pages: 48
• Illustrator: Stanley Diane